


I am not a Robot

by wsakuya



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alternate Universe - Civil War, Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, Angst, Blood and Gore, Character Death, Cyborg/Robot!Kagami, Cyborgs, Depression, Drama, Drinking, Explicit Language, Fist Fights, Flashbacks, Foreshadowing, Futuristic Tokyo, M/M, Memory Loss, Mind Games, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Plot Twists, Robot/Human Relationships, Scientist!Aomine, Smoking, Tragedy, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-11
Updated: 2015-07-09
Packaged: 2018-03-22 07:31:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3720382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wsakuya/pseuds/wsakuya
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Good, and who am I?"</p><p>"Aomine Daiki," he said, opening his eyes again, and he could see just in time the man's features softening. He smiled small, and it made him look younger, closer to his actual age.</p><p>"That's right," Aomine said, and instead of holding onto Kagami's shoulders now, his big hands wandered up and cupped his cheeks, holding Kagami's face safely as if it was the most precious thing in the world. It made Kagami feel safe, this warmth so familiar, he thought, and his gaze softened as he stared back into blue, dark orbs.</p><p>Aomine kept smiling as he said, "Welcome home, Kagami."</p><p>Human/Robot AU (Inspired by Marina And The Diamond's song "I am not a Robot")</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Kagami Taiga

**Author's Note:**

> Oh God, I've finally started this AU I've been thinking of for months, phew.  
> It's always difficult with the first chapter, so I'm really sorry it's short.  
> The upcoming chapters will have around +5000 words, promise!
> 
> I think I've once mentioned that I don't plan on starting a multi-chapter fic ever again,  
> because I've had bad experiences with it. So please, if you actually enjoyed and like this fanfiction,  
> please go ahead and leave a comment, even if it's only three or four words!  
> Or send me an ask on my tumblr: http://wsakuya.tumblr.com/
> 
> I hope you'll enjoy this, thank you for reading!!
> 
> word count; 2,097

_"Can you teach me how to feel real?_  
 _Can you turn my power off?"_  
\- I Am Not A Robot

_"Test, test."_

There was a loud noise in his ears, as if his head were a radio without signal. It hurt, his mind was blank.

_"Kagami, can you hear me?"_

A deep voice spoke to him, called a name even. Maybe it was his own, maybe it wasn't. He didn't know, but he wanted to reply with equal words, though his mouth was sew shut. Just like a doll, he lay there without moving an inch; mouth and eyes closed, the insides of his head repeatedly beeping a melody. His body was heavy, similar to big bags of sand as he tried to move his arms lying on either side of his hips.

He didn't panic though, because there was a voice inside him saying exactly that; _do not panic do not panic._

_"Wait a second..."_

Someone moved beside him, touching and feeling him, and suddenly he felt a jolt going through his body, dazzling light floating his mind as if the on switch had been pushed.

 _"Kagami,"_ the voice said, _"open your eyes."_

He still felt worn out, but did as he was told and lifted his heavy eyelids. Bright, hurting light made its way into his line of sight, and he blinking repeatedly, trying to get accustomed to it.

A figure was hovering over him before taking his hand and pulling him carefully and slowly up. Compared to himself, the hand holding him was warm and soft, and out of reflex he gripped back, squeezing the hand gently.

His frown slowly disappeared as he took in his surroundings, his dark eyes getting used to the bright light.

In front of him, there stood a man.

"What is your name?" the stranger unhurriedly asked, his dark hands holding him in place on either shoulder.

The boy wanted to tell him that he didn't know, because he just didn't. At least he partly knew it was Kagami. Kagami something, Kagami first-name. Maybe even a middle name or two.

He was confused as to why someone would ask him a question he had no answer to, why this man with his tired face and dirty hands would look so expectantly at him.

Kagami Taiga, his mind asudden said. Before, completely blank, now working with high performance and feeding him with answers he didn't even know the question to.

 _~~190cm; Los Angeles; cheeseburgers; August 2nd; dogs;~~ _  
_~~December 28th; Aomine Daiki; English and Japanese;~~ _  
_~~Huge appetite; A; cook; Kagami Taiga; Kagami Taiga;~~ _  
_~~Kagami Taiga; Kagami Taiga; Kagami Taiga; Kagami Ta...~~ _

He opened his mouth and said, "Kagami Taiga".

His voice was deep, rumbling, and it made his throat hurt a bit as if it was his first time speaking. Kagami placed a hand over his Adam's apple and rubbed the skin there carefully. The man in front of him smiled and slightly tightened his grip on Kagami's shoulders as he said, "Good, and who am I?"

The boy with his red hair looked at the stranger holding him. He seemed so tired and old, probably much older than he in fact was. His hair was a darkish blue, similar to his eyes, and the tanned skin didn't hide the wrinkles in his face. Yet there was something about him Kagami couldn't put his finger on.

He closed his eyes, hoping to hear that voice or see those words again. His brain started rattling as if gears had begun moving, and he checked answer after answer fitting for the question 'who am I?'

Kagami felt his body gradually warm up with every passing second, and he gripped the cot he was sitting on tighter. A few and small electric shocks ran through his body, as if his bones were slowly getting accustomed to the changes happening inside him.

He saw those very same answers again.

 _Aomine Daiki,_ his mind said. There was no information about him; not who he was, or where he had come from. No further details of him as a person, or maybe a picture Kagami could orientate on.

But then again, he thought, there was no other name he could see or remember, so it wasn't like he had another option open.

"Aomine Daiki," he said, opening his eyes again, and he could see just in time the man's features softening. He smiled small, and it made him look younger, closer to his actual age.

"That's right," Aomine said, and instead of holding onto Kagami's shoulders now, his big hands wandered up and cupped his cheeks, holding Kagami's face safely as if it was the most precious thing in the world. It made Kagami feel safe, this warmth so familiar, he thought, and his gaze softened as he stared back into blue, dark orbs.

Aomine kept smiling as he said, "Welcome home, Kagami."

 

With quite and hasty movements, careful enough not to be seen, he made his way to the scientist's home, only to be stopped by a loud whine behind him.

"Kurokocchi, wait for me!" a tall, handsome man moaned, trying to keep up with his companion's pace. "You're going too fast!"

"You've just slackened off, Kise-kun," Kuroko said but decided to turn around anyways and wait for Kise to catch up. After all he was the one with shorter legs. There was no way he would be faster if Kise hadn't gained weight.

"Why are you in such a hurry anyways?" Kise asked and gripped the boy's arm when he was close enough, as if it prevented Kuroko from running away again.

Kuroko frowned. "We haven't seen Aomine-kun in forever. After all he just stays hurled up in his basement and won't even open the door when we ring," he said, "He's probably dead by now."

"Kurokocchi, don't say that! It brings bad luck!" the blond whined and shook Kuroko back and forth as if trying to calm himself and not panic.

The alleys were filled with garbage and dead animals. Once in a while, a rat would show its face and run past the two men, which would only make Kise scream out in terror.

The small parts and bits outside Tokyo were not noteworthy compared to its flashy city centre with its colourful lights and trendy shops, nothing like the streets Kuroko and Kise were currently going along.

"Ugh, I hate it here," the blond quietly murmured, and Kuroko bit on his lip to keep himself from speaking, from lashing out on Kise because he wasn't even living here anymore like he himself and the rest of him did, because he left them for money and fame, and Kuroko would probably be forever salty about it.

They took a turn to the right, and the home of Aomine was finally in sight. An old, brown house where the colour had already started to spall years ago, not like it bothered anyone. Every other house looked just as shabby, so it didn't really matter to anyone living in the streets.

The door was rusty and broken, looking as if it were to fall apart with a single touch. Kuroko couldn't even count on both hands the many times Aomine had thrown someone against it in a fight. The mailbox stood on the left side of the house, which looked like a little house with a round roof itself, and probably hadn't been used in weeks, hundreds of letters looking out of every slit.

Kuroko sighed quietly upon seeing the mess and knocked on the door, knowing fully well that the bell hadn't worked for years now.

It had been weeks the last time he was here. As Aomine started to lock himself up in his basement without letting anyone in, Kuroko had slowly given up on beating some sense into him.

"Is Aominecchi not at home?" Kise asked and let his golden eyes wander over the house. It was already getting dark, but there were no lights on. Not a single window was illuminated.

The blue-haired boy shook his head. "Aomine-kun would never leave his house," he said and knocked again. A noise came from inside the building, and Kuroko could swear he heard steps coming towards them.

 

Kagami took in his surroundings. A dark, weak-lit room, the only source of light being bright lamps shining upon him and the cot he was sitting on.

The walls were bald, grey and dirty. In each corner were lockers filled with tools of the trade. Kagami thought that maybe they were in a garage, but upon seeing no gate but steps leading upwards, he realised they were most likely in the basement.

He turned to Aomine, who had been watching him attentively the whole time, and asked, "Is this your house?"

His body still felt tired and powerless, and he was freezing a bit. He thought, he was acting too quiet and slow. It simply didn't feel like him at all (which was ironic since he didn't even know what he actually was like).

Aomine looked at him cross-armed before turning around and getting a tissue, scrubbing off the dirt on his hands.

"It's _our_ home," he said, and then froze as there was a dull knock coming from upstairs. Both their heads shot up, and Kagami wondered how big their home exactly was, the knock almost getting drowned by the walls.

Aomine let the tissue carefully drop to the little table in front of him, and then pulled down the zipper of his dark blue jumper and stepped out, revealing a black, sleeveless shirt and clean pants underneath. His arms flexed as he put the suit onto the cot beside Kagami, and the red-haired watched the movements curios.

"For an old man you sure work out," he said before he'd even realised what words left his mouth, and his head jumped up surprised to meet Aomine's equally surprised face.

The red-haired let out a quiet huff, close to a laugh maybe, and smiled upon seeing Aomine do the exact same.

"Thanks," the older said, and heard it knock a second time. He swiftly turned to Kagami. "Stay here until I come back, understand? Don't leave the basement, Kagami."

Kagami nodded quietly, seeing how serious Aomine's expression was, and then watched the man walk up the steps in big strolls, disappearing upstairs.

Just as Kuroko couldn't endure any more of Kise's whines and thought of knocking again, the door opened.

"Yo," Aomine casually said as if they hadn't not seen each other in weeks, maybe even months, and he leaned with one of his arms against the door frame. He felt the cold breeze hit his sweaty and hot skin, and was thankful that it was so briskly outside.

With a frown on his face, the blue-haired looked confused between the two people standing in front of his door. He nodded into Kise's direction and asked, "What the hell is glamour girl doing here?"

"Aominecchi, so mean!" Kise moaned and threw his arms out.

"Aomine-kun, where have you been?" Kuroko asked and regarded his friend with a stern look. He realised Aomine wasn't wearing his usual jumper and frowned, because he was _always_ wearing it.

The taller man sighed. "Come in," he said and stepped out of the way, guiding his friends inside. It was a run-down home with more rooms than one could count. Once, three families had lived in here, now it was only Aomine who was left.

"Basement," the blue-haired said and walked down the stairs right next to the front door, pushing his hands into the pockets of his pants. Kise and Kuroko exchanged a suspicions look before following their friend downstairs, not knowing what exactly was awaiting them.

The stairs were creaking with every step, almost sounding like a composition as they walked down in different paces.

Kagami's head shot up as he heard them coming closer. He felt himself tense a bit before seeing Aomine being the first one to step into the room. The blue-haired man swiftly strode to Kagami's side and then turned around to face his two friends.

"Wha-- " Kuroko paused midway before he could even take his first step into the basement. His wide eyes landed on Kagami, who jumped off the cot and stood beside Aomine.

Kise was just as speechless, his mouth hanging wide open. "Who--"

"This is Kagami," Aomine said and took one of his hands out of his pocket, gesturing at the boy beside him. "He will be living with me from now on."

Kagami nodded in their direction. "Nice meeting you."

_\- tbc_


	2. You're not supposed to exist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "So, how come you live all alone in such a big house?" the red-haired boy asked as they reached the basement, and Aomine turned on the lights - a single light bulb tangling from the roof and not making a big effort of lightening up the room.
> 
> "Before me, three families lived here," Aomine said and pulled the cot to the centre of the room.
> 
> "And where are they now?" Kagami asked as he scanned the room curiously.
> 
> "Dead."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH MY GOD HI!!!!!  
> First of all, I'm super sorry that I took so long. I was busy with working on other stuff,  
> but I actually managed to finish the second chapter before this weekend!
> 
> Thank you so much for the amazing feedback I got on the first chapter.  
> I was so happy and surprised, I almost cried, wtf????  
> I'm trying to reply to all the comments, though I'm often really lazy,  
> so sorry if I take a bit longer...
> 
> But I felt really motivated by all the comments, and I actually managed to make the chapter longer.  
> I planned to make it even MUCH LONGER, but I thought it would feel too rushed, so the rest is for the next one.
> 
> Uhm... is there anything else? Maybe, keep the comments coming?  
> Because I was so super happy, you can't even imagine wow!!
> 
> Now enjoy the chapter! :)  
> Oh yeah, and do you know what foreshadowing is? Yeah, me neither.
> 
> word count; 5,286

_"You start to wonder why you're here not there_  
_And you'd give anything to get what's fair"_  
\- Stop and Stare

Aomine awoke to a sweet scent in the air, filling his nostrils with an aroma he hadn't smelled in years. His tired eyes slowly opened as he breathed in and sighed, suddenly feeling very safe.

The curtains of his room were open, he wasn't able to sleep otherwise, and he could see the sun shining through. Today would be a good day.

He turned his head to the side and looked sleepily at his alarm clock on the nightstand. It read 05:34 am.

"What the hell..." One of his tanned hands moved up and rubbed the sand out of his eyes that had gathered there over the night, and then he decided to stand up, the mattress making a squealing sound under his movements.

Aomine's room was one of the smallest in the house, always had been. He practically had grown up in it, which was probably the reason why he didn't feel like moving into a much bigger room at all (and there were a lot of them inside their huge home). This room held too many precious memories he wasn't ready to let go of yet, and who knows, maybe never will.

With a yawn, the blue-haired man lifted a hopefully clean shirt and pants off the floor and pulled them over his body, not daring to look in the mirror and see his reflection so early in the morning. He knew he didn't look like him anymore, like the little, wide-smiling boy with his loud voice. That boy was now only a shadow of his former self. Now, now he was just old. Not like he could help it. With the things he had been going through, and the work he had been doing the past eleven years, it was no surprise that he looked older than he actually was.

With that in mind, Aomine followed the sweet scent down into the kitchen. His bare feet patted over the floor, and he tried to remember the last time he had slept that good, or at least more than four hours at a time. Finishing Kagami meant that he could finally relax a bit, which was good. What didn't mean though he wouldn't have worked longer on him, if he had to of course.

Aomine walked into the kitchen, and the sight in front of him made his heart jump. He had been sure never being able to see someone stand there ever again.

"Morning," Kagami said without turning around, his senses probably more marked than the ones of a normal human being. He must have already heard Aomine while walking down the stairs.

The red-haired boy turned his head with a spatula in his hand and an apron around his front, pointing with the tool to the table. "Sit down, I'm almost finished."

Aomine hid the smile spreading over his face by doing as he was told and took a seat. "Why are you already up so early?" he asked and saw Kagami shrug in response.

"I couldn't sleep," the boy said, not really explaining himself as if it wasn't all that important. Maybe Aomine had still made a few errors and Kagami was not able to sleep or dream like a human being yet. He had to check that later.

"I..." Kagami paused and put the spatula aside, pulling the pan onto another stove plate. "I found this apron in the mountain of clothes yesterday." He turned around and presented himself to Aomine. It was a simple blue one, soft to touch and probably must have been very expensive considering the fabric was of silk. It looked like it had been taken care of well, no dirt or holes gracing the cloth.

"It suits you," Aomine said and nodded, not remembering when he had seen that apron the last time either.

Kagami grinned and then put down two plates with mountains of pancakes, a cup of coffee for Aomine, and a cup of tea for himself. The newspaper of the day were lying on the table as well, but the blue-haired was completely fixed on the food standing on front of him, his eyebrows raised high.

"You expect me to eat everything?" he asked and then looked up to Kagami. He was sure his stomach definitely wouldn't play along, at least not with this amount. He hadn't eaten self-made food in years, probably, not really counting the times he actually had managed to make himself some fried eggs (which were very rare).

Kagami looked at him as if he had grown a second pair of eyes, but then something seemed to have caught his attention.

"After a good night of sleep you don't look so grumpy anymore, old man," he said and smirked sheepishly, seeming to really like the idea of calling Aomine like that.

The blue-haired groaned and reached for the pack of cigarettes he always had in his pants. "Shut up."

With a swift motion, he pulled out one of them between his fingers, and took the tip into his mouth.

"Oi!" Kagami warned him. "No smoking in the house!"

"What, I always do that," Aomine replied and was about to lit the cigarette before the red-haired rose from his seat and pulled it out of his grasp.

"But now I am here. Now enjoy your goddamn breakfast before I shove it down your throat!"

Aomine looked at him with wide eyes.

Kagami coughed. "...I mean, please."

Out of embarrassment, Kagami blushed and ducked his head. He hadn't meant to lash out like that on Aomine, yet here he was, quietly mumbling an apology and sitting back down on his chair. He just hoped the man wouldn't be angry with him. But all of his worries washed away as soon as he heard Aomine suppress a snort, and Kagami looked up to meet a smirk and amused eyes watching him.

"It's fine like this," Aomine said out of context and packed away his cigarettes and lighter again, and Kagami had to ask in confusion what exactly he was talking about.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm just saying that," Aomine shoved a pancake into his mouth, "you should behave just like you want to. Because you are perfect the way you are." He leaned back alone after having swallowed one pancake and threw his head back, humming loud and long while chewing as if to cover up his embarrassment for saying such cheesy things by showing that he found the pancakes very delicious.

"So..." Kagami poked around in his food before regarding Aomine with a look. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," the blue-haired shrugged and relaxed again, taking his previous position and drinking a sip of his coffee. It was good.

"How old are you exactly?"

As the older man tried to swallow another pancake, he was done. There was no way he would be able to eat that mountain, and he had only swallowed two so far. With a sigh he reached for the newspaper and unfolded it, and he said, "38, gonna turn 39 in Au--"

"August 2nd!" Kagami said eagerly, proud that he had cut off Aomine with the little data he had, who was staring at him in bewilderment now, the newspaper long forgotten.

"...What?"

The boy's expression fell with Aomine's reaction, and he frowned. "It's not?"

As if in slow motion, Aomine shook his head and put down the paper, not letting Kagami out of his eyesight.

"I'm aware that you've got information saved in your brain since I was the one myself to give you them and asked you yesterday about both our names," Aomine said, "but there seems to be more."

Before Kagami could even ask what exactly happened on the 2nd of August, the older man continued talking, meanwhile rubbing his chin because it seemed all so interesting to him.

"What about Testu and Kise? You didn't know them, right?" Aomine asked curiously.

With another pancake in his mouth and a sip of his tea, Kagami shook his head silently.

 

"This is Kagami," Aomine said and took one of his hands out of his pocket, gesturing at the boy beside him. "He will be living with me from now on."

Kagami nodded in their direction. "Nice meeting you."

He saw their wide eyes and open mouths, the surprise and shock on their faces. They hadn't even made their first steps into the basement yet but froze midway on the stairs. He wondered if it really was that dreadful for him to be standing here in front of them.

"Aomine-kun, you..." Kuroko didn't get to finish his sentence before Kise did.

"You finished him?"

Neither of them dared to step forward, and with their stares directed at him, Kagami felt like an exhibit.

He looked at Aomine for help, who seemed neither proud nor amused at his friends' reactions, as if he had foreseen it. His expression was simply bored, hands in his pockets, and Kagami even dared to think of him as cool.

Eventually, Aomine turned to him.

"These two are Tetsu and Kise, Kagami. They know about you," he said, and Kagami knew, _understood_ that even in their time, in the 23rd century, it was illegal working on a humanoid robot without the government's permission and supervision. For the past eleven years, Aomine had done this in secret, let no one in on it, and if he did, eliminate that person as soon as information was leaking somewhere. Those were the circumstances of this project. Speak, and you die.

Kuroko and Kise had known that of course, but they were Aomine's friends. And even though Kise would always tend to babble like a drunken woman, the blue-haired man was sure he would at least keep quiet about this.

"You can trust them," the older man added, most likely trying to reassure Kagami. He pulled out a pack of cigarettes and lit one of them in his mouth, leaning relaxed against the cot and watching the scene unfold in front of him. He didn't even seem to care that maybe by lightening a cigarette something in the basement could explode. God knows what he had collected in those water containers.

Kagami wasn't really sure what exactly he was expecting with that hopeful look, so he just turned back to Kuroko and Kise, who were still staring at him as if they'd seen a ghost.

Kagami decided to break the silence once again.

"So... what were your names again?" he asked and heard Aomine snort quietly beside him. He ignored the mocking sound and was now genuinely keen on starting a conversation with the two strangers in front of him.

The first one, the smaller one must have been Kuroko, and in comparison to Kise he looked so tiny and delicate, Kagami felt almost sorry for him. But he could also see muscles under his white sweater and sleeveless, black jacket, and indeed, you really should never judge a book by its cover, because Kagami was sure with just enough provocation, Kuroko would be the most dangerous of the three.

Kise was wearing much more colourful clothes that seemed to match his happy-go-lucky-seeming personality if he wasn't currently staring at Kagami in utter shock.

The bright, green shirt, the many bracelets in rainbow colours and the yellow shoes were almost too bright for Kagami's eyes. Not even the white sweater managed to balance it out. He had a hard time taking Kise serious, because he just looked _so_ out of place in that dark and mouldy basement.

Kuroko was the first one to catch himself. "My name is Kuroko Tetsuya. It's nice..." He licked his lips. "It's nice to meet you, Kagami-kun."

The man was so polite, even to someone like Kagami, who was much younger than him and didn't know any manners. Kagami guessed, the two men in front of him had to be as old as Aomine, but if he looked closer, Kuroko and Kise looked so much younger and energetic. They didn't look like they had seen all the horror of the world, yet they seemed to have seen _something_.

"Kuroko..." the red-haired quietly whispered, repeating the name on his own tongue and muddling it over in his mind. There was nothing he associated with the name, nothing Aomine had given him.

He looked over to Kise now, who was still staring at him in shock. "And you are Kise?"

The man with his blond hair and ridiculously smooth skin gulped quietly, the bewilderment still not leaving his face. Yet he somehow managed to speak past the lump in his throat, and he said, "Ryo... Kise Ryouta..."

And with that, the awkward conversation was over, silence once again falling over the room. Kagami saved the names surely in his head, and then turned to Aomine for help, raising his eyebrows and shaking his head as if indicating he had no idea what he was supposed to do now.

The blue-haired man took another drag of his cigarette, and then sighed. "I guess you have questions?" he asked and turned his head to Kuroko and Kise.

Kuroko was the first one to catch himself in the end. He swallowed the saliva that had gathered in his mouth over the past minutes, and asked, "I thought you had given up? When did you start working on him again?"

Kagami thought, he sounded a bit upset, probably because Aomine had seemingly kept it a secret from the two of them all those years.

"I did," Aomine nodded and let out a smoky breath. "But it's not like I gave up entirely. And then one day I finally figured out how."

"And when did you finish him exactly?" Kise asked, having finally caught himself. He was still staring at Kagami, but now with such fascination and disbelief, thinking that he maybe was imagining him after all.

With the hand that was previously in his pocket pants, the older man reached out and ruffled Kagami's hair into a bigger mess than it already was, and he had that fond smile on his face again as when he'd cupped Kagami's face. "Only five minutes before you two barked in."

And he laughed when the boy batted his hand away with a groan and stared him down in annoyance.

"Stop that, dumbass!" Kagami barked and took two steps back. Aomine was only a few centimeters taller than him, but it pissed him off that he treated him like a child.

A sound escaped Kuroko's lips. It was just a small huff, and Kagami would've thought he imagined it, wasn't it for the man's vulnerable expression. It must have been a rare sight for Aomine to laugh or at least smile; so rare that Kuroko was wearing this face, his eyes soft and smile small.

Kagami felt proud for making Aomine smile.

 

Kuroko and Kise didn't say much, at least not in Kagami's presence. Not that it bothered him since he was now able to see the rest of the house and realised how much it smelt in the basement.

Kagami walked up the stairs eagerly, and the first room that caught his eye was the kitchen. It was nicely spacious and clean, but he guesses that was only because Aomine never cooked for himself.

Kagami saw the word _cook_ being saved in his data and wondered if he was a good one, if it was fun, and he really couldn't wait to try it out himself, but the curiosity got the better of him, and he walked into the next room, which was conveniently attached to the kitchen; the living room.

Just like the kitchen it was huge and spacious, had old furniture that was definitely not from this century, and a piano in the corner of the room, and Kagami wondered if either him or Aomine could play it or if it was only there for the looks.

There were much more rooms in the house; too many bathrooms for two people; empty rooms that looked as if once someone had lived in them; and a second floor with even more empty rooms. The boy really didn't know what to check out first, which door to open first.

He felt like a child on an expedition, the adventurous spirit sparking inside him as he stormed room after room.

At one point, he was sure he had found Aomine's, because it was the dirtiest one. Clothes were all scattered about, and it smelled of beer and tobacco.

There were photo frames standing on the night stand that caught Kagami's eye, but before he could edge closer, the door was banged shut and he pulled against someone's chest.

"What do you think you're doing, brat?" Aomine asked, not really sounding upset but still keeping the red-haired in place.

"What the hell does it look like?" the boy replied sassy. "Checking out my new home."

He wiggled out of Aomine's grasp and put his shirt back in place.

"Oh yeah, you can choose your own room then," Aomine said and scratched his head, realising that he had messed up the order of things.

Though before he could say anything else, Kagami was already in his own world. There was only one room left in the whole house he hadn't looked inside yet, and that was the one beside Aomine's, the door still firmly shut.

Kagami felt a tingling in his fingertips as he reached for the doorknob and opened the door. He didn't walk inside yet, rather studied the room thoroughly, his mouth open in curiosity.

The walls were a light red, so light one could mistake it for pink; Kagami didn't mind the colour, in fact he really liked it, to his own surprise. Everything was clean, there was no dust moving in the air, almost as if the room had never been abandoned, which was very curious considering that dust was practically the first thing that had welcomed him in the other rooms.

The place had two big windows, since it was in the corner of the house, and a huge bed that looked much too big for one person to sleep in. A desk was also there, weirdly with empty photo frames, and Kagami had to wonder whether Aomine had removed them and where they were now.

In fact, it seemed as if a lot of things had been taken out of this room. It looked different, not particularly abandoned and then untouched like the other rooms where the furniture was still standing where it belonged, but rather... empty.

And yet, the red-haired said, "I take this one," a smile spreading over his face for God knows what reason.

Aomine studied his expression quietly, his arms crossed over his chest as he was leaning against the wall beside the door. It took him a few seconds to reply, and as he opened his mouth, he said softly, "It's perfect for you."

And Kagami thought it was funny, because Aomine hadn't even looked inside.

 

Aomine reached for the newspaper and unfolded it, reading the headline of the day, standing proud and big at the top of the paper.

 **BOMB ATTACK IN IKEBUKORO**  
_Twelve people dead, twenty-three wounded_

His blue eyes briefly scanned the article before he turned to the next page, the interest and sympathy towards the victims low. Kagami was still chewing on his pancakes as the man said, "While we're at it, now's the perfect time for a few rules you need to follow if you don't want to get into trouble."

Kagami slowed his mouth's movements before completely stilling, and he listened to Aomine talk, the wrinkled and dark eyes not even looking at him.

"Sure," the boy said when no continuation followed, and he put down his cutlery.

"First, don't leave the house without my permission, especially when I'm not home. It happens rarely, but when it does, you do not take a step outside the door, or I will punish you."

The man took a sip of his coffee. "Second, if you do leave the house, stay within 100 steps, and wear a mask."

"What mask?" Kagami asked, his eyes now completely concentrated on Aomine.

"It's in the basement. I will give it to you later. Third, don't tell anyone that you're a robot or you'll be killed."

There was a tense atmosphere around them that was lying heavily on Kagami's shoulders. He didn't dare to ask _who_ would kill him then, if it actually slipped his mouth that he wasn't human, so he went for the next best question. "Why am I gonna be killed?"

He knew that question was silly since robots weren't allowed to be created in the first place if it wasn't under the government's supervision, but Kagami also knew that it wasn't about all robots, and as far as he understood the rules, he was out of the question.

"Because you're not supposed to exist," Aomine said, his eyes lifting and meeting Kagami's; so cold and empty that the boy was wondering who exactly was the robot out of the two of them.

"You mean, it's not allowed to create robots like me?" he asked and could see just in time Aomine pupils widening, as if he was remembering something, and then his eyes casted down again, pretending that a particular article on the newspaper had caught his attention.

"Yeah, exactly," the man replied, and Kagami couldn't help but think that he just had been lied to, especially the way Aomine didn't dare to look back into his eyes.

"Anyways, let's get another check-up, " the man said and stood up, leaving the newspaper on the table and walking out of the kitchen. It wasn't a suggestion but rather an order, which left Kagami no room to argue or clean up the table after the breakfast.

And now that he thought about it, the older man hadn't even thanked him for going out of his way. After all, it wasn't particularly his job to make breakfast or take care of the household. Which led Kagami to the question why exactly Aomine had made him in the first place.

The two of them walked down the stairs to the basement, one specific stair creaking under his weight and making him flinch.

The house was so big and old. It was only a matter of time before he'd break something with his tall and muscular built. He wasn't worried about Aomine doing the same since the man was already accustomed to living here, and his build was much thinner and smaller. Not in height of course, because he was obviously taller than Kagami, but rather in proportion. His shoulders and chest were just not as wide.

But now that was unimportant, because Kagami was out on getting a few answers to his hundreds of questions.

"So, how come you live all alone in such a big house?" the red-haired boy asked as they reached the basement, and Aomine turned on the lights - a single light bulb tangling from the roof and not making a big effort of lightening up the room.

"Before me, three families lived here," Aomine said and pulled the cot to the centre of the room.

"And where are they now?" Kagami asked as he scanned the room curiously.

"Dead."

The boy's head snapped back to where Aomine was standing, casually lightening a cigarette. Now that they were in the basement, he was of course allowed to.

"Oh," he said awkwardly, looking in his data for any sympathetic words, anything that either lifted Aomine's mood or the one of the room. He couldn't think of anything, so he just said, "Sorry."

"S'fine, I didn't know them anyways," Aomine replied as his eyes casted down again. He took a deep breath of the cigarette and then pulled it out between his lips, exhaling grey fume. With his free hand, he tapped on the cot and Kagami got the cue, walking over and lying down, exactly like he had yesterday.

"What are you going to do?" Kagami asked, knowing very well that Aomine could turn him off whenever he wanted to, just casually killing him on the spot without Kagami ever getting a word in it. Yet he lay down, listened to every of Aomine's commands and fulfilled them. It was hard to explain, the boy thought, but there was some sort of bond between them. Kagami was sure, Aomine would never turn him off if he actually needed to.

"Just checking your data. You seem to have more information than I gave you," Aomine said and picked up two black, pen-looking things, holding it to Kagami's head.

"Is that bad?"

"Depends."

And with that, silence fell over them. The tip of the pens started glowing in a light blue. They weren't touching Kagami's head directly, but he could feel something moving inside him, as if Aomine was just casually sitting on his computer and dragging E-mails around - which was not far from the truth since the man was looking at a monitor that was positioned to his side, showing forgein codes and numbers. Kagami didn't understand any of them.

"Name?" Aomine asked just like the day before, this time a bit more absent though, as his eyes were practically glued to the monitor.

 _"Kagami Taiga,"_ Kagami replied.

"Serial number?"

With his eyes closed, the boy could see numbers and letters in front of him, as if written on the inside of his eyelids.

_"KT-0208-2812-1104-105-V4"_

There was a short tingling in Kagami's head as Aomine put one pen away and moved the other higher, the codes on the monitor changing with it.

"What else do you see?" Aomine asked expectant.

"Uhm... " Kagami had to dig a bit inside his consciousness before that particular data appeared he had seen when he'd woken up the first time. _"Cook."_

"Well, I think we already cleared that up," Aomine said, and Kagami imagined hearing a smirk in his words. "What else?"

"What else..." Kagami repeated, looking deeper. _"Huge appetite?"_

Aomine laughed. "Maybe something that isn't completely obvious?"

There were a few more words that didn't make sense to him, but maybe to Aomine, so Kagami instead picked up one of the dates circling in his data.

_"December 28th."_

At that, the older man froze. The cigarette that had stuck in his mouth fell onto the ground, and he didn't bother to pick it up, his hands equally frozen. Kagami couldn't see Aomine's face, or the way his pupils widened dangerously, as if he had some sort of flashback. The tension built up with each passing second, and the red-haired boy didn't dare to open his mouth, because Aomine was still holding that pen to his head, and he knew, if he made some abrupt move, that pen could surely end his life, destroy all his data and knowledge until he was just an empty vessel lying on a cot in a basement. He didn't dare to think about it.

"...Aomine?" he quietly whispered, and almost jumped as Aomine's hand moved further up his head.

"Anything else?" The older man asked sharply, his voice ice-cold, and there was really nothing else Kagami could reply apart from "yes" and change the topic quickly, because Aomine was _scaring_ him; the way his voice sounded so distant, his hand gripped the pen tighter than necessary, and that he refused to look Kagami in the eye for the rest of the check-up.

Only the telephone ringing killed the tense and heavy atmosphere, and Aomine told the boy that they were finished and he could leave as he did just that himself, grumbling and cursing because _who the hell dared to interrupt him during work._

He ran up the stairs, skipping every second one, and then walked to the phone lying on a small chest of drawers beside the entrance door.

"What?" the man snarled into the receiver as he picked up, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall as he heard a deep reply from a voice he didn't think to ever hear again. At least not in this life time.

 _"Aomine. As rude as ever,"_ the man on the other side of the line said, just as snarly as Aomine himself.

The blue-haired man could recognize that voice from a thousand feet away. So deep, nonchalant was only one that wasn't his.

"Midorima, what the hell do you want?"

There was a pause before Midorima replied. _"I just heard a rumour, and felt like confirming it."_

That fucking Kise, Aomine cursed in his mind and gritted his teeth, because there was no one else who would have leaked his secret. Kuroko wouldn't do something like this, and Kise really never knew when to shut up, and sometimes it happened that words slipped his mouth he had promised to keep inside. But why had it had to happen this time?

"Dunno what you're talking about," he said as casually as possible, and could almost see Midorima sigh and push up his annoying glasses.

_"I have told you too many times now that what you are doing is wrong, Aomine. A monkey will always stay a monkey."_

"Well, yeah, said monkey is hanging up now." And just as the blue-haired was to actually put the phone down, he heard Midorima's voice deepen with his next words, and Aomine froze right there again.

 _"I am your smallest problem, Aomine. If people hear of your little experiments... If_ he _hears of it... You know that you won't be forgiven, don't you?"_

There was a second of silence before Aomine barked out into a dirty and loud laughter, and Kagami, who had been sitting quietly in the basement, emerged from downstairs to eavesdrop on Aomine.

"What, have you gone soft over the years, Midorima, or is that concern I can hear in your words?" the blue-haired said and could hear a _"pah"_ coming from the other man before he went on. "Don't worry about me. As if I let something happen to him. Before that, I'd rather die."

Kagami pretended he didn't hear anything and sat back onto the cot until Aomine returned.

_\- tbc_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to leave a comment! : >


	3. That's why I'm here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Did his... family die in that war?" Kagami wonders aloud as he recalls Aomine's words, how quickly the man tried to shake him off and change the topic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOWDY-HO!!!!
> 
> First of all, you guys are just amazing. I'm getting so much feedback for each chapter, and it's just so motivating.  
> I really enjoy working on this fanfiction, and really can't wait before I finally reveal everything to you! It's so exciting!  
> So thank you so much for being so great and leaving kudos and comments and letting me know what you actually think of this fail, lol.  
> I was planning to make this chapter longer (just like I mentioned I'd post every chapter with +5000 words), but I really wanted to stop at that cliffhanger, so you guys have a bit more to ponder about c:
> 
> I changed my writing style from past tense to present tense, because I realised I feel more comfortable that way.  
> I hope you don't mind!
> 
> I'm still not 100% fine with this chapter, but I know myself, I'm not gonna get it any better lol  
> So enjoy, and as always, I would be super happy if you left a comment!!!
> 
> word count; 4,136

_"And the walls kept tumbling down_  
_In the city that we love."_  
\- Pompeii

A low buzz sound; almost so faint, it would have slipped his mind if it wasn't in the middle of the night and dead quiet.

He probably should have said something, should have told Aomine that he's not able to sleep at night.

Not that it's really the end of the world, Kagami thinks, since he can get the energy he'd usually get from sleep from another activity such as cooking. It would take a bit longer since his body would be moving, but he's almost as relaxed while standing in the kitchen as sleeping in his bed, so it would definitely work.

Kagami turns on his right, the pillow flattening his spiky hair. In the dark he can clearly see what normal people only see by day; the wooden door or the desk on the other side of the table with its many empty photo frames.

The boy feels like standing up, like seeing the house in the dark, see things he doesn't see in broad daylight.

So deep into the night, Aomine's probably sleeping. If not, Kagami would have sensed movements in the other room, his ears working so well it's ridiculous. He's really thankful for his strong senses.

He can always tell when Aomine awakes even while standing in the kitchen and making breakfast, or when the postman throws the daily newspaper at their door. And sometimes at the quietest time of night, when no birds sing or cars pass the nearby street (which is very rare in itself), Kagami can hear Aomine's heartbeat through the wall, how it steadily taps, quietly, and manages to calm his own heart down.

Another glance to the door and Kagami heaves himself up, throwing the blanket aside and placing his cold feet onto the floor.

It's warm inside his room, the heater making strangled sounds as it emits heat into the air and his body. Kagami can feel the warmth running through his feet into his skin, and he stands up, the bed creaking over the loss of his weight.

By now, he's already memorized the room and its furniture, how many steps he needs to take from one spot to the other, how loud he can be before Aomine hears him in the other room.

When he opens the door, Kagami is surprised to be met with a row of lit candles sticking to the wall, burning proudly in the dark. Of course he has noticed them before, but never saw them lightened. He didn't know Aomine lit them at night.

For a second, he thinks the man is still awake, that being the reason for the candles since it's dangerous to let them burn unattended, but after stilling his breath and listening carefully, Kagami is convinced that the older man is already asleep, his heartbeat thumping calmly.

"He sure has no sense of danger," the boy whispers into the darkness.

With quiet steps, Kagami makes his way down the hall to the stairs leading to the first floor, cautious enough not to brush one of the candles. His steps are almost cat-like, tipping quietly along the long and thin carpet.

The house is so quiet, almost dead. The silence is scary, and Kagami wonders how Aomine endured living alone in this big house for so long.

He flinches when the stairs creek under his weight, and he stops right where he is, slowly turning around to check if Aomine awoke.

No sign. Kagami sighs.

He keeps walking until he arrives at the last step and notices the first floor looking brighter than upstairs.

Aomine never bothers to lower the blinds, that's why the moon is shining inside proudly and illuminating every room in its pleasant light.

Kagami wonders if that's the reason Aomine always leaves them up.

But instead of going into the kitchen or living room, the red-haired male decides to go lower, down into the basement.

Aomine didn't particularly forbid him to go downstairs, so he assumes it's alright as he takes his first step into the big, dark room.

He pushes the button to his right that turns on the light bulb dangling from the ceiling, and then walks over to the computer.

Compared to the rest of the room it looks so out of place. Everything is so old and dirty, but the machine looks so brand-new and white-clean, as if it wasn't touched at all. But even then, the boy is sure that the machine is definitely not from this century.

Kagami pushes the on-button, and the bright light almost blinds him as the screen turns on, and he squints his eyes in pain before they get used to the brightness.

**Please enter your password: _ _ _ _**

Kagami frowns, trying to remember if he saw Aomine ever enter his password, but all the times the blue-haired man used the computer to check on Kagami, it was already turned on and only on standby.

He has never seen Aomine enter his password before.

In this case, Kagami would have probably eyed the keyboard thoroughly for fingerprints or check which keys have been abused the most, but it's part of the touch screen, so it's obviously impossible.

Kagami sighs and clicks his knuckles.

He can still clearly remember the dates saved in his head, and decides to try out one of them. Maybe Aomine is actually naive enough to give away his password.

**Please enter your password: 2812**

A deep, loud beep-sound coming from the computer echoes through the room, and Kagami growls low in his throat.

**Access denied. Please try again.**

_Then it must be the other one..._

**Please enter your password: 0208**

Kagami sighs as he reads the word on the display.

**Welcome, Aomine-san.**

What exactly Kagami is trying to do now that he has access, he doesn't know, but he goes ahead and opens a browser tab, watching the search bar blink in anticipation for what he will type next.

His fingers twitch, and he decides to look for the one thing he's been curious about since he awoke.

He starts typing away, and after hesitating for a second, he hits enter.

**10.372 results for December 28th**

His eyes widen in surprise. "That many...?"

He clicks on the first link, the title saying something about a news paper article from eleven years ago.

Kagami's met with a big headline along the lines of, _The city is celebrating, CEO Akashi has finally fallen._

There's a big picture occupying the left side of the article with a boy in a black suit, red hair and bichrome eyes; one red, the other golden. His gaze is cold, not even looking into the camera, completely uninterested in anything going on around him.

The caption says, _CEO Akashi, 17-years old son of former mayor killed in civil war._

Curiously, Kagami starts to read the article.

_The city is celebrating, CEO Akashi has finally fallen._

_After five years of tyranny, CEO Akashi and son of former mayor Akashi Seiji is killed in the civil war on December 28th. His death symbolizes the end of suffering for all our citizens Tokyo's and the start of a new era._

_With the help of the government's secret partisans 'ZONE', Akashi was killed around 5pm with a gun shot right through his heart. Sadly the attack sacrificed a few of our soldiers._

_The bomb attacks that same day earlier lead by Akashi as well, caused many of our citizens to die, too late to evacuate all of them - 36 dead, over hundred casualties, many of them still missing._

Kagami stops at that point and leans back in his chair, letting everything sink in.

_"Before me, three families lived here," Aomine says and pulls the cot to the center of the room._

_"And where are they now?" Kagami asks as he scans the room curiously._

_"Dead."_

"Did his... family die in that war?" Kagami wonders aloud as he recalls Aomine's words, how quickly the man tried to shake him off and change the topic.

Kagami realises, Aomine always does that, always avoided speaking about things he's not comfortable with. In a way, the boy can sympathize with that. After all, Aomine looks like he's gone through some really rough times. But on the other hand, he has nothing to go by, no one he can trust apart from Aomine.

With one last glance at the article, Kagami closes the browser and turns the computer off, suddenly feeling so tired from all this new information, so much to process, and that all on his own.

He can't ask Aomine on that matter, at least not anymore. Maybe, after some time the man would have opened up to him, would have told him what roughly happened. But now, that Kagami has betrayed his trust, has gone to his computer without permission, he can't ask anymore, because he's a bad, bad liar, and Aomine would immediately catch on.

Aomine is maybe old, but he's not dumb.

Kagami decides to stand up and leave the basement. With guilt in the pit of his belly, he walks up the stairs, only for his heart to sink into his shoes.

"Aomine..." he gasps, stopping in the middle of the stairs.

Aomine's standing there at the top of the steps, his arms crossed. He clearly seems to have woken up just now, his hair sticking up in every direction and eye circles worse than usual. His legs are only barely covered by loose pants, his chest completely naked.

Kagami gulps as the blue-haired male ushers him into the kitchen, not saying a single word. Their bare feet are quietly tapping along the floor, the only sound in the house right now.

Kagami can't even read his expression, because Aomine always manages to look completely expressionless. He doesn't know if the man is angry or disappointed or about to kick him about, and that makes him slightly panic.

He sits down quietly on a chair, his gaze directed downwards, too guilty to look Aomine into his face.

It's now quiet apart from the older man lightening a cigarette, and Kagami doesn't have the courage to tell him off like he did the day before. So he instead tries not to flinch when he breathes in that smell.

"So," Aomine starts and takes a deep, smoky breath. "What exactly did you do?"

Kagami's playing impatiently with his fingers, and in the end decides to tell the truth. "I was at your computer and searched for something on the internet."

Aomine's not asking why, just slowly nods and takes another drag of his cigarette. "How did you get the password?"

"It's in my data, wasn't so difficult to find out." Kagami winces at his own words, hoping he didn't sound too sassy or cheeky. Pissing off Aomine is literally the last thing he wants to do right now.

Aomine nods again. "What did you search for?"

A pause, and the red-haired male is deliberating whether to lie this time. He decides not to. "December 28th."

Aomine freezes, but then nods again, his eyes never watching Kagami but staring down to the floor.

He takes another drag. The burnt tobacco is falling to the floor, but neither really care as the tension is too much to even move properly.

It's so quiet, and Kagami wants to break the clock hanging above the kitchen's door, because that thing seriously irritates him. How it keeps ticking even with that atmosphere, as if it was mocking him for getting himself into trouble.

In the end, the silence is broken my Aomine sighing deeply and throwing his cigarette into the sink. With a swift motion, he pushes the chair back and sits down, again with his arms crossed.

"You want to know, don't you?" he asks, and it takes for Kagami to realise that this is an actual question in which Aomine is actually looking at him, and he hesitantly nods.

Aomine nods as well and leans further back in his chair, making himself as comfortable as possible in the wooden seat. "What do you already know?"

"Uhm..." Kagami thinks of what he read about before going upstairs. "On December 28th eleven years ago, the civil war ended with a guy called Akashi being killed."

Aomine nods. "Do you know who killed him?"

"A group called 'ZONE'...?" Kagami says, rather asking than stating, and then adds, "What exactly was that?"

Aomine stands up and starts to pour coffee into a cup he took from one of the cupboards, his movements so swift and smooth, Kagami wonders if the man actually did sleep.

"It was, uhm..." He takes a sip of his drink. "Simply saying, child soldiers."

Kagami's eyes widen, and it takes him a second before the gears in his brain start to move. "Don't tell me you--"

"I was one, yeah," Aomine says and sits back down on his chair. "And Tetsu and Kise as well."

The red-haired boy stays silent, his eyes carefully watching Aomine. He's not sure what to say, so he decides not to say anything at all. Anyways, it feels like the man is finally opening up to him, giving him answers to all the questions he has, has wanted to ask the whole time but couldn't in fear he somehow pisses Aomine off, or even scares him.

"Back then the three of us and a few more were ordered to kill that Akashi guy. After we actually succeeded, everyone split up."

"Split up? How?"

Aomine empties his coffee in one gulp. "Some of us stayed here, some of us moved into the city."

Kagami nods slowly. "You stayed here."

"I stayed here," Aomine says.

A pause, then the red-haired boy asks, "Because your family lived in this house?"

Aomine's not surprised that Kagami put one and one together, easily getting behind the secret, which wasn't really a secret in the first place.

"Yeah," he says.

"Did they..." Kagami swallows. "Did they die in that civil war?"

Aomine's eyes are glued to his cup as he replies. "Yeah, you could say so."

It's quiet after that. Kagami doesn't want to ask any more questions, because he's sure alone the ones he asked already were too much.

Aomine doesn't dare to look at him either. So he stops, stops asking and staring, and instead wishes Aomine a good night and goes to bed.

His body feels heavy as he walks up the stairs and into his room, quietly closing the door behind him. He's glad it's still warm inside, the heater continues to make strangled sounds. But right now, Kagami almost finds the noises soothing as he lies back into his bed and throws the blanket over him.

That night, Kagami dreams of their house, this time only much more colourful.

 

The next time Kagami awakes, only a few hours after his little adventure, it's dead quiet.

Apart from the birds chirping and some people passing the house, there's no sound, no heartbeat of Aomine's, nowhere in the house.

He panics and runs down the stairs, knowing very well that he's alone yet looks around anyways. Kagami's probably scared to find a dead body somewhere along the floor.

His eyes scan the kitchen, and when there's nothing to be found, he wants to hurry into the living room - before a note on the kitchen tables catches his attention.

_Kagami,_

_I'm going to the city for a few hours. Don't burn the house.  
And even more important, don't leave it!!! Or I will probably kill you if no one else before me does._

_\- Aomine_

Kagami's mouth escapes a sigh of relief as he reads the note, and he decides to wait with breakfast until Aomine comes back.

Rather, if Aomine doesn't come back before noon, there's no reason to make breakfast at all.

He walks over to the counter and pulls a cup out of the cupboard, fishing out a tea bag as well.

Aomine has this big box filled with the most different flavors you could find for tea, and Kagami plans to try ever single one at least once.

He freezes as he suddenly realises that he can hear a thumb, thumb coming from one of the rooms.

This can't possibly be Aomine's heartbeat. Simply because somehow Aomine's had a different sound to it, calmer. Just like Aomine himself.

The one Kagami is hearing right now is rougher, deeper, and he knows right away that it's not the blue-haired man about to stroll through the main door.

Someone else is in the house.

But before Kagami can react somehow, he suddenly hears something - it's the keys of the piano.

The tones are slowly dancing up from low to high, not particularly playing a piece. It feels like the person is playing just to hear the keys, the way the piano sounds under their fingers; like a feeling of nostalgia.

Kagami slowly makes his way into the living room, simply because that's where the instrument is standing. His steps are cautious, not knowing who exactly is awaiting him in that room.

His head turns until he can see the couch, the curtains, and eventually the piano with a tall man standing in front of him.

He has short, green hair, and is wearing a white laboratory coat that is covering his body down to the knees.

He doesn't turn around as Kagami steps into the living room, but the boy is sure the stranger knows he's not alone.

"Who the hell are you?" Kagami asks in a gruffly tone as the man stops tapping on the piano keys, sudden silence filling the room.

He still doesn't turn around, not even when he opens his mouth to speak, and somehow Kagami feels irritated hearing that deep, rumbling voice, so cold it almost makes him shudder.

"This place looks still the same. Old and dirty," the stranger says and lifts his hand off the piano, watching the dust on his fingers in irritation. "Doesn't that Aomine think of cleaning it once in a while?"

"Oi!" Kagami barks, slowly getting impatient. "I asked you something!"

But he can shout as much as he wants, the man keeps ignoring him.

"Still living in this dump. He never changes," the green-haired man says and slowly turns around, finally facing Kagami. "Making the same mistake over and over again."

The boy feels irritated as he hears him say that. The way he's looking at Kagami feels like he's talking about him, and he doesn't like that.

What is that stranger even thinking, Kagami wants to say, barking into someone else's house and insulting them.

Now that he thinks about it though, he swears he's heard that voice before.

"I'm asking again, who the hell are you!?"

"Hmpf, your rudeness is so predictable," the green-haired says and pushes up his glasses.

Kagami realises, he can ask all he wants, he most likely won't get one single answer to his questions. So instead, he takes a deep breath, and decides not to ask at all.

"Aomine's not here," he says.

"I know, that's why I'm here," the green-haired man says and turns his head around, as if confirming that the house indeed didn't change at all.

"You came here knowing Aomine's not here," Kagami says and realises that his tactic actually works as he gets reply after reply.

"I was looking for you," the stranger answers and eventually turns his head back, eyes set on the boy.

Kagami feels uncomfortable under that gaze and takes a step back as the man comes closer, eyes never leaving him.

"Fuck off, I don't even know you!"

"That's not necessary. You will come with me either way."

The boy feels panic bubble up in the pit of his belly, the feeling close to stomach ache.

His reaction is too slow though as he feels someone appear behind him and push something spiky into his neck.

Where did he come from!?

The next thing he notices is that everything around him turns dark as he falls to the floor, Aomine's name on his lips.

 

"Kagami, I'm home!" Aomine calls out as he throws the door open, keys falling onto the little table beside the entrance.

He shakes off his backpack hanging around his shoulder, and then frowns as he receives no reply.

"Kagami?"

He looks up the stairs, thinking that the boy is maybe still asleep, but Kagami is always awake before him.

Aomine calls a third time, his voice now more cautious as he walks into the kitchen. "Kagami...?"

Somehow, he feels something grumble in his stomach that's clearly not his hunger speaking, and he spots the filled cup on the tabletop, the tea bag still swimming inside.

As Aomine lifts the cup to take a sip, he has to scowl; first, because it's strawberry flavor, and second, because the tea is ice cold, probably standing there for a few hours now.

He slowly starts to panic, because it's not like Kagami to leave his tea standing without drinking it empty, and he calls more frightened this time. "Kagami!"

He told Kagami not to leave the house without telling him, told him that it's dangerous, and Aomine doesn't want to believe that that's actually what happened.

But to his luck, he knows the house inside out, notices even the smallest changes, the tiniest touch, so Aomine immediately realises that something is off as he walks into the living room to look for Aomine.

"Wait a second..." he quietly murmurs as he turns his head left and right, feeling that something is off, that something is out of place as he takes a few steps deeper into the room.

His head turns, and he eyes the piano suspiciously, as if it was the culprit of all evil. It's always been to big for the room, too out of place. He doesn't even play piano.

He lets his finger dance over the surface and catches the dust that has gathered over the years of not cleaning it.

He looks down to the keys, and notices exactly the same. A few of them are missing their dust, as if someone touched them only hours ago.

Aomine doesn't take long to put two and two together and curses under his breath before he reaches for the telephone that's way too old for their time, and dials the last number that called him.

It connects after only two rings. _"Hello?"_

"Where is he?" Aomine growls and grips the receiver tighter than he probably should.

 _"Ah, Aomine. What delight to hear from you,"_ Midorima says, practically flowing with sarcasm.

"You fucking bastard, where is he!?"

Midorima breaths out something close to an amused huff. _"Oh, you must mean Kagami. You never change, do you?"_

"You fucker! I told you not to touch him!" Aomine shouts, and he kicks the door once in a desperate attempt to calm his anger.

 _"I'm just checking on him. Who knows if you built a killer machine here,"_ Midorima says, seemingly not impressed by Aomine's outburst.

"This is still Kagami, you can't just kidnap him, bastard!"

_"Then come and get him."_

The line goes dead, and the blue-haired man throws the phone in his hand against the wall, not caring one bit whether it breaks or not.

He grabs his keys and shuts the door behind him the next second.

Midorima will definitely pay for this.

_\- tbc_


	4. I'll answer only one question

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "What the hell did you asshole do!?" he asks, and if his body weren't so weak, he probably would have torn apart the whole place and killed the man along the way.
> 
> "I was never a fan of your temperament," Midorima says and pushes up his glasses, and Kagami feels even more irritated because first, he got ignored, and second, he literally doesn't understand half of what the man is saying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M SO DIDDLY-DARN SORRY. fuck, i was so busy with writing other stuff *coughs* that I let this one just lie around, so fucking sorry. I really want to finish this fic and not just break it off like I did with my first multi-chapter-fic, so please have some patience with me.
> 
> Sadly, this one is even shorter than the last one, but now filled with much more plot-moving stuff that I hope you don't mind much. I still hope to finish this fic within 15 chapters or less, so I try to write more for each one.
> 
> Hopefully you'll enjoy the chapter!  
> As always, please leave a comment, so I feel motivated to keep writing : ' >
> 
> word count; 2,587

_"Your lips say that you love,_  
_Your eyes say that you hate."_  
\- In Pieces

  
**Zero percent of data restoration.**

_"Kagami, open your eyes."_

**Ten percent.**

_"Those are ——— you said to me..."_

**Twenty percent.**

_"You are perfect the way you are."_

**Thirty percent.**

_"The only one _—_ ———, dumbass."_

**Forty percent.**

_"You're not supposed to exist."_

**Fifty percent.**

_"Yeah, right, as if I'd ————! You should know me better!"_

**Sixty percent.**

_"You can trust them."_

**Seventy percent.**

_"Don't ——— now! Don't fall asleep on me!"_

**Eighty percent.**

_"As if I let something happen to him. Before that, I'd rather die."_

**Ninety percent.**

_"Let's ——."_

**Hundred percent.**

_"I ——, Kagami Taiga."_

**DATA RESTORATION COMPLETE.**

 

There's a loud buzz in his ears, just like the first time he awoke in Aomine's basement, and Kagami slowly opens his eyes to be met with a bright light directed at him.

His body is caged, arms and legs pulling yet not coming off the places they're lying on.

His mind is still somewhat drowsy, and suddenly he remembers waking up without Aomine around, that green-haired man and a stab to his neck, and _ah_ , that must have been a needle, no doubt.

But he doesn't understand. How could he have not sensed that someone was behind him? He always did, that was one of the features Aomine gave him after all.

Kagami quietly groans, and then his head snaps up as he hears steps coming towards him, the green-haired man slowly appearing out of the darkness.

"You're finally awake," he says, still wearing that doctor's coat and hands folded behind his back.

His gaze is cold, just like before, impossible to decipher what he's thinking, and it makes Kagami mad. Rage builds up within him he didn't know he had, and he starts to jerk and scream.

"What the hell did you asshole do!?" he asks, and if his body weren't so weak, he probably would have torn apart the whole place and killed the man along the way.

"I was never a fan of your temperament," Midorima says and pushes up his glasses, and Kagami feels even more irritated because first, he got ignored, and second, he literally doesn't understand half of what the man is saying.

"Oh yeah!? Then let me the fuck go!" he screams, his arms and legs still pulling, as if it somehow loosened the straps holding him to the metal chair. He doesn't remember snapping like this before, but somehow screaming and writhing like this feels just right.

Midorima ignores him and instead walks over to his computer, typing something in.

There he goes again, ignoring Kagami as if he's invisible.

The boy growls like a tiger, bares his teeth and wishes the man every death possible. The anger is still boiling up inside him with each passing second in which he has no control over any of his senses.

"What exactly am I doing here?" he asks, his mood still sore. But by now he's realised that writhing and screaming around is no option, so he decides to stay still, much to his displeasure.

Midorima doesn't reply — of course he doesn't — and keeps clicking and typing into his computer.

"Takao, come here," he suddenly says, and Kagami frowns.

Either the green-haired forgot his name or he's talking to himself, because Kagami's sure he can't sense anyone apart from the man standing a few metres away from him. "My name is Ka—"

"Yeah, Shin-chan?" a raven-haired male chirps and appears right beside Kagami, grin bright and voice sharp.

The male jumps, yelps and almost falls velvet chair to the floor as Takao's suddenly standing beside him, completely oblivious to the panic clear on Kagami's face.

He doesn't ask where he came from or how it's even possible in the first place that he didn't sense anything, not even a weak tingle or something — suddenly that man is just there and walking over to Midorima, tapping him on the shoulder like an old friend and laughing when the male pulls away from the touch as if Takao was already used to it.

"Come with me," the green-haired says and takes a small blade into his hand. His steps are big, he's practically strutting as he walks over to Kagami and regards him with an indifferent look.

"What the hell are you doing?" the red-haired asks as Midorima gets closer with the item in hand, and he tries to slip somehow deeper into his chair, his senses kicking in as the doctor grabs his arm and keeps him still, the grip so tight it almost hurts Kagami.

"What the fuck are yo— _Arg_ —" The blade presses into his skin, cuts inside and then leaves a small scratch there. It's small, but it still bleeds, and Kagami hisses with the sting he's feeling in his arm, doesn't pay attention as Midorima instructs Takao to look closely.

"Wait, that's— blood? But how?" Takao asks and turns to the other male, frowns at him and then back at the wound on Kagami's arm. "I thought he's a robot?"

"He is," Midorima says and cleans the blade with a tissue he pulled out of his pocket. "Just different from you."

 _That guy is a robot as well,_ is what shoots through Kagami's head as the pain slowly begins to fade, _that's why I couldn't sense him. He's not human._

Takao taps thoughtfully on his chin and hums.

"Wait a second," he slowly says and turns back to Kagami who's glaring at him in anger, teeth pressed together and hands balled into fists. "If he's bleeding... then that means his body is—"

"Midorima, you bastard, where is he!?" Suddenly there are rows of clattering noises; doors banged open and furniture thrown to the floor. It doesn't take long before Aomine's storming into the room, expression furious and eyes almost burning as he stands in front of them now and tries everything in his power possible not to jump Midorima the next moment.

The green-haired lets out a quiet _hmpf_ , but expression still steady, as if he knew Aomine was gonna make his debut like this.

"You're faster here then I thought," he says and pushes up his glasses, regards his old friend with a sore look. "How did you find me so qui—"

It's then that Kise appears behind Aomine, cheeks flushed and heavy breath as he ran only seconds ago to catch up to the blue-haired, and it catches Midorima off guard.

"Kise..."

The blond smiles crooked, the discomfort clear in his expression as he doesn't dare to step in front of Aomine. "Long time no see, Midorimacchi."

"Yeah, yeah, screw your lovers' spat, where the fuck is—" Aomine gasps quietly as his eyes land on Kagami who's still cuffed to the chair, and immediately runs up to him, his steps fast and movements quick.

"Kagami, are you alright? Did that bastard hurt you somehow?"

Kagami shakes his head, so relieved to see Aomine again that he completely forgot about the cut until the older man freezes and lets his fingers hover the wound. "This..."

"Oh yeah, he cut me with a knife," the red-haired says, shrugs it off easily before he sees Aomine's expression of terror, feels his fingers shaking on his wrist and breath coming out somehow shaky, and then quickly adds, "No big deal."

It takes a few seconds before the man catches himself, pretends he didn't look incredibly pale just now, and turns around, ready to attack Midorima if he has to.

But instead the green-haired is throwing a small key at him he catches easily, and says nothing more than, "I just wanted to confirm what I already knew. Take him home if you want to."

He turns to Kise briefly who's still standing unmoving at the door, as if he refused to come in for whatever reason, and then leaves the room with a quiet order for Takao to follow him.

"What was that about?" Kagami asks as he rubs his reddened wrists carefully, feels a sting of pain as he does so and hisses quietly. "Confirm what?"

"Nothing, now let's go," is what Aomine says as he turns around, as he doesn't dare to look Kagami in the eye and walks out of the room past Kise who's watching the scene in confusion.

"What did Midorimacchi even do to you?" Kise asks as Kagami walks up to him, puts his clothes back in place and ruffles his hair.

He shows Kise the wound. "He cut me and that black-haired guy looked all surprised at it, as if it's an unheavenly thing to bleed."

He still feels the irritation, the humiliation for being treated as a test subject and cut open like some lifeless doll, as if he had no will of his own.

Kise stares at him long and hard, and it takes him a while to say only two words, "—You bled?"

"Yeah, so what?"

Kise shakes his head slowly. The gesture probably would have made much more sense if he said anything, but he doesn't at first, which irritates Kagami immensely.

"Kagamicchi," the blond begins and keeps his strange expression. "You're a robot. You're not _supposed_ to bleed."

Somehow, Kagami feels something click inside his head, if only for a second.

 

 

He doesn't say anything as they walk back home. Watching Aomine's back was always something he enjoyed down in the basement, but now it feels strangely empty, somehow so out of place.

Kagami still hears Kise's voice inside him, his hollow words and disturbed expression, totally different from the Kise he previously met.

Something doesn't sit right, a puzzle piece not fitting into the other as he keeps watching Aomine's silent form, their steps so loud in the narrow alley as they don't exchange one word, the worry the blue-haired male showed earlier now only a memory.

The boy feels like saying something, even something worthless such as talking about how big of a jerk Midorima is, but his throat hurts as he swallows and inhales, as if telling him that _no, don't say anything, now is not the time,_ and so he doesn't.

As they finally arrive at home, which is like a twenty-minute walk from Midorima's house, it's Aomine who speaks first as he puts his keys on the cupboard beside the door and walks into the kitchen.

"Come on, let's treat your wound," he says and pulls off his jacket, the cigarette pack clattering in his pocket.

"It's fine, it's almost healed now," Kagami replies and follows him, shows off his arm and the cut on it, now almost gone — no blood, no burn, only a small bruise that will hopefully disappear soon as well.

He jerks unnoticed as Aomine touches his wrist, the grip not loose but not hurting either as he holds onto Kagami and doesn't let go. It's almost as if he's reassuring himself that yes, Kagami is back, Kagami is standing right in front of him within reach.

That's where the boy decides to finally open his mouth.

"Aomine— just now, what was that all about?"

Kagami watches Aomine let go off his wrist and instead grab a chair and take a seat at the kitchen table, his fingers slightly shaking as he pulls out a cigarette and lightens it.

"Why did that Midorima-guy kidnap me? Why did he cut me? What did he want to confirm?" is what he asks as the blue-haired doesn't reply and instead takes a breath of his cigarette.

Aomine bends his neck and exhales the smoke into the air, watches it dance up and slowly disappear. Kagami knows he's trying to distract himself, trying to do anything to not answer his questions, but Kagami's sure they both know that Aomine can't run away forever — whatever it is he's running from.

"One," the blue-haired says after a minute which feels like an eternity to Kagami, and holds up the index finger of his hand that's not holding the cigarette. "I'll answer only one question."

It's unfair, the boy thinks, because there's even more that's bothering him than only today; for example why Aomine always dodges his questions, doesn't tell him who's been living before him or that he always makes a big secret out of everything, that he's never talking about himself or his past.

They're living together, at least they're supposed to, because in the week Kagami's already been here it only feels like he's trying to fill the space of someone he doesn't even know, that he's just a useless fill-in of a void that can't seem to ever be filled again.

He feels out of place. He feels like he doesn't belong here.

"Why," Kagami begins and takes a deep breath, the words coming out more nervous than he intended to. "Why do I, as a robot created by you, bleed?"

Aomine doesn't look at him, he rarely does, as if he's seeing something in Kagami's eyes he doesn't want to see — maybe judgement, maybe guilt, maybe he just hates seeing Kagami's look directed at him with desperation and the hope to finally be cleared up of all the secrets he's keeping from him.

"There are two types of robots that are to this date's technology able to be built," Aomine starts and inhales more smoke, watches the burnt tobacco fall onto the table. "Humanoid robots type A, and type B. The latter one is only allowed to be created under the government's supervision."

Kagami doesn't ask why, because he knows he's not allowed to ask more questions, but he hopes that Aomine keeps going and just gives him _something_.

"The reason is—" The man harrumphs and licks his lips, as if it helped the words slide smoother out of his mouth, make it easier somehow. "They're made out of people's corpses."

Kagami's mouth falls open.

"—Wait a second," he calls out and grips the edge of the table, his voice louder than intended to. "Does that mean that I'm supposed to be dead!?"

It's only then that Aomine's words make sense to him, make finally click in his muddled mind, that finally one of the puzzle pieces fit.

_"You're not supposed to exist."_

_\- tbc_

 


	5. Who am I?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "So I'm supposed to be _dead_!?" he asks again and stops pacing for a second, instead turns to Aomine who's watching him with an unreadable expression.
> 
> "Theoretically, yeah, practically—" Aomine looks him up and down and shakes his head. "Not so much."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH HOLY COW A NEW CHAPTER RIGHT AFTER A WEEK  
> Please don't get used to it, because I can see myself taking another two months for the next chapter lol  
> Uhm, idk what to say apart from... YOU GUYS ARE SO GREAT.  
> I always get so many, loving comments and motivation and what the fuck guys, you are so perfect, fuuuuuck.  
> And thank you for over 100 kudos!!
> 
> (I'm actually supposed to write for MidoKise week, but psssscht)
> 
> Let's see what to say about this chapter... You probably gonna hate me after this, pffft.  
> Don't wanna spoil you somehow, so just enjoy it, kay kay? (Or not, idk)
> 
> THIS TIME IT'S EVEN LONGER!!!
> 
> word count; 4,898

_"And I've lost who I am,_  
_And I can't understand,_  
_Why my heart is so broken."_  
\- Shattered

Kagami paces through the room, confusion and terror seemingly making it unable to sit down properly.

His thoughts are thrown and muddled together, stomach churning and head spinning, and he's controlling every fiber in his body to not take apart the whole kitchen he's come to love so much.

"So I'm supposed to be _dead_!?" he asks again and stops pacing for a second, instead turns to Aomine who's watching him with an unreadable expression.

"Theoretically, yeah, practically—" Aomine looks him up and down and shakes his head. "Not so much."

"But who am—" The boy pauses and licks his lips, a defeating sigh escaping as he grabs the back of the chair in front of him. "Who _was_ I?"

Aomine takes another drag of his cigarette, now almost gone. "Kagami Taiga."

"So— So you knew me!?" Kagami asks hopeful and pulls the chair back, takes a seat and sits opposite to Aomine. But his expression velvet hopes fall as Aomine avoids his eyes and shakes his head again.

"On the 28th December, after Akashi was dead, I found you in one of the destroyed buildings. Your body was one of the small amount that wasn't completely damaged, so I took you with me," Aomine explains and sighs.

"And you don't know _anything_!?" Kagami can't help but hear his voice rise in volume, the utter desperation he's feeling right now making him lose control, making his body shiver and feel cold.

He watches Aomine again shake his head in defeat, still unable to look at him.

"B—but... where did I live? Where was I born?" Kagami asks, his lips trembling and arms gesturing wildly around. "What about my family? Do I have siblings? Are they possibly still looking for me or hoping I walk through their door after eleven years!?"

He feels his hands shaking, legs now completely numb. "I mean, what was I like? The things I liked or disliked? What about my friends? Or a partner I shared my life with? Did I even have any of that or did no one notice that I was gone in the first place?"

Aomine doesn't reply to him and instead lightens another cigarette, the other already lying crumbled on the table. It pisses Kagami off, because the man looks almost bored, so completely disinterested in Kagami's panic.

"But what about my memories? You were able to see them, didn't you?" With each word, he sounds more aggressive, feels angrier, and he leans forward to brace his elbows on the wood, to get closer to Aomine without rounding the table. "Why can't I remember anything!?"

"I had to delete everything," is Aomine's immediate response as he exhales smoke and taps with his free hand on the table. "Else it wouldn't have worked."

"But did you _see_ anything!?" Kagami asks desperately, and he wants Aomine to face him properly, wants him to say anything that would make him less angry or anything so Aomine just finally looks into his eyes.

But Aomine keeps staring everywhere but Kagami, and then shakes his head. "That wasn't something I was allowed to do. They were your private memories, I didn't have the right."

"But you did have the right to turn me into a fucking machine!?" the boy shouts hysterically, feels his chest sting painfully as if he just got stabbed. "To pick me off my death place maybe lying right beside my also dead family, erase all my memories and turn me into a confused pile of emotions who seems to get kidnapped by freaking, psychotic doctors, yeah!? But you had the right to do that!"

Aomine slams his fist onto the table, the ash making a small jump just as Kagami himself, surprised by the sudden, loud noise. "I saved your fucking life, that's what I did, be thankful!"

His voice is now loud and angry, furious, one Kagami has never heard before, but he doesn't budge, he's just as angry and furious that he shouts back instead.

"But I didn't ask you to, bastard!" He stands up and instead leans over the table, leans closer to Aomine who looks taken aback by his honest and equally loud words. "Can you imagine what it feels like to keep living without any of your memories!? To never ever remember again what kind of experiences I've gone through, to not know what I'm scared of or the things that make me happy. I mean, hell, have I even lost my virginity yet?"

Kagami chuckles bitterly and straightens his back. Against his consent he can feel his eyes prickle with tears he's tried to hold back the whole time.

His voice cracks when he asks, "Have I ever been in love?"

Finally, Aomine looks him right in the eye, his expression just as vulnerable as Kagami's own, but he's not saying anything. Either he lets Kagami speak, or he can't manage to open his mouth at all. Kagami guesses it's the latter.

Maybe it's only now that Aomine realized he's done something terribly wrong; bringing someone back to life is one thing, erasing their whole self another. He's sure Aomine did it with the right intentions, but clearly the wrong way.

"What about my partner— my lover? What if they're still looking for me? Desperately hoping that I contact them again and say, 'hey, it's me, I'm still alive, miss me?'."

Kagami tries to swallow the pressure in his throat that makes it almost unable to speak at all, makes his body ache in places he didn't even know could ache. His chest feels corded up, as if his heart was beating with all its might, as if trying to break his rib cage and jump out. "What would you do, Aomine, if you couldn't remember the face of the person you loved?"

The man shakes slowly his head, defeated, and then admits with a voice he's never used before, utterly crushed and broken, "I don't know."

Kagami nods and huffs, reaches up and cleans his eyes off the tears that dared to fall out, and with a last, shaking breath and no words leaving his mouth, he exits the kitchen.

He's hoping he can fall asleep at least tonight.

 

 

Since that day, something feels very off; not just the way Aomine is avoiding him the best he can, it also feels like something is missing in Kagami's life, something he can't quite remember.

Now that he knows that he did have a life, somehow things make sense, more or less.

Before, Kagami couldn't sleep because he always had these strange visions that felt too real to be dreams, but now he's beginning to think that maybe they are pieces of forgotten memories that try desperately to come back.

He imagines hearing voices, calling his name and trying to tell him something, gets more paranoid with each passing day until the boy stays in his room altogether and neither goes out or lets Aomine inside — not that the man really tried.

He knocked maybe two, three times before giving up entirely and leaving Kagami to himself.

On one hand, he wants to be left alone to his thoughts and dreams, but on the other he's disappointed that Aomine didn't even really try and pull him out of his misery, as if he didn't care.

But Kagami's positive that Aomine just thinks it's better for him to be alone with the many, new information he's received in such short time. He knows Aomine is bad dealing with emotions and with talking, maybe he's scared of somehow worsening the situation than it already is.

At one point, when Kagami's particularly deep in thought, lying in bed and head in his arms as he stares to the ceiling, it knocks on the door twice before Kuroko's voice follows.

"Kagami-kun? Can I speak to you?" he asks and waits patiently for Kagami's response, doesn't bark in like Aomine usually does. Sometimes Kagami wonders how they managed to become friends.

He sits up and heaves a sigh, finally decides that maybe it's time to return back to his life, at least the one he knows. He's tried to think long enough about it, tried to somehow trigger his memories to come back, but in the end nothing worked, and sulking doesn't really help him either, so he stands up and opens the door, guides Kuroko inside.

"Yo, Kuroko, what's up?" the red-haired asks casually as he watches Kuroko take a seat at his desk. It looks somehow strange as the male immediately walks towards the chair, as if he's been here before.

"What about you, Kagami-kun, are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah, I guess, at least a bit better," Kagami replies and sits down on his bed, the sheets lying messily around. "Why are you asking?"

Kuroko stares at him for a second, almost dumbfounded as if Kagami couldn't have asked a stupider question and then huffs. "You've been hiding in your room for almost a week. Aomine-kun is worried sickly."

Kagami snorts. "Well, I hope so."

He stands up and grins at Kuroko who is smiling back at him. "I'm going downstairs."

"Do that, then I'll be leaving."

Kagami accompanies Kuroko to the door and bids goodbye before going on the search for Aomine which doesn't take long as he glances into the living room and sees the male sitting at the window, smoking his cigarette and watching the snow fall from the sky.

It's gotten colder over the week, the degrees going as far as slipping into the negative realm. The streets have gotten slippery, the air now so cold that every breath is visible and cheeks redden within minutes.

Kagami stops in midst of the room with hands in his jeans pockets as he harrumphs audibly to tell Aomine he's present, that he's finally emerged out of his room. But the man doesn't turn around, instead sucks on his cigarette.

"Finally out of your hole?" he asks, but he's not angry, instead his voice sounds soft, relieved even, and it visibly relaxes Kagami as his shoulders loosen and slump down.

He pulls one of his hands out his pants pockets and begins to massage his neck awkwardly. "Listen— Aomine— About last time..."

"Keep it," Aomine says sharply and makes the boy jump slightly, but then he huffs out a chuckle and adds, "I would've reacted the same way, so 's'fine."

Kagami sighs quietly, almost feeling as if a heavy burden fell off his shoulders, now freed of guilt, and he dares himself to smile small as he walks over to where Aomine's sitting and looking out of the window.

"What are you doing?" he asks, somehow thinking that it suits the atmosphere better if he keeps his voice soft as he stands behind the older man and looks outside as well.

Aomine breathes in more smoke.

"The day the civil war ended, it snowed too," he says completely out of nowhere, his gaze directed at something far in the distance. "And even though there was everywhere fire around, the buildings were burning— it was _so_ cold."

Kagami shudders at Aomine's hissing words, how empty they sound even though the man's eyes are reflecting the snow flakes and giving off a warm feeling. He doesn't know why the man is suddenly talking about the day eleven years ago, but he's glad, because this is literally the first time Aomine has ever uttered something about himself out of his free will. So Kagami keeps his mouth shut, presses his lips into a thin line and listens closely.

"I was hurting all over, whole body covered in blood, and I thought, why isn't the snow putting out the fire? And then I was wondering why I was so cold in the first place, after all the fire was burning so lively."

Aomine puts out his cigarette in an ashtray standing on the window sill. "And every time it snows, I remember feeling the way I did back then, with blood all over my hands that wasn't mine."

Kagami's breath hitches as he sees Aomine's expression, still looking outside as if he was searching for something or someone, eyes watching every snow flake he can catch falling to the ground.

He doesn't know what to say, he's bad at these kinds of situations, so he decides to change the topic altogether, appreciating in the back of his head that Aomine has told him such a private memory.

"What I said back then— I wasn't serious," Kagami says and keeps his gaze out of the window as he feels a blush creep up his cheeks. Aomine finally turns to him.

"I mean, when I said that I didn't ask you to bring me back to... you know."

Aomine's tired eyes seem to light up a bit, and he nods small, but he's not saying anything, and Kagami guesses he needs to keep talking. "I, uhm, I'm happy to be here— I really am."

His face relaxes as he hears Aomine snort and sees him smile small, head turning back to the window.

Kagami's already noticed it before, but the male looks so much younger when he's smiling and his facial muscles are relaxed. Kagami imagines it's what Aomine looked like when he was younger.

"Me too, dumbass, now stop the blushing, you're embarrassing both of us," Aomine snorts and nudges playfully the boy's head, making Kagami laugh.

"Shut up, you're blushing, old man."

 

 

 

The next day, life has returned to normal.

Kagami is back in the kitchen and making breakfast, bacon and scrambled eggs for him and Aomine.

He only noticed midway that the man has left a note telling him he was out again. He never says where he's going or what he's doing. Even after their shared, emotional moment from only a day ago nothing has changed. Aomine is still as secretive as ever.

Kagami pretends it doesn't bother him, but sometimes he still feels like he doesn't belong. It's not really the house he's feeling uncomfortable with. Actually, he loves it. It feels exactly like a home has to feel - warm and inviting.

The real problem is Aomine. Sometimes he still looks at Kagami with this kind of expression, unreadable, almost painful, but he never says anything, never tells Kagami what exactly is bothering him.

It's driving the boy insane.

Kagami pulls the pan off the heated stove plate and takes his apron off, looking over the kitchen.

He's already finished washing the used dishes, so there's nothing left to do anymore.

He considers cleaning the living room before another idea hits him.

Aomine's not here and the basement is always unlocked. He can still remember the first time he decided to snoop around, but this one is different, and Aomine won't definitely be here to catch him again.

So Kagami walks down into the basement and turns the light on, the place looking as shabby as ever.

The computer is on standby, but he has to type in the password nevertheless, still the same. He's actually surprised Aomine didn't decide to change it since Kagami got in the first time so easily.

He takes his time with the typing and then opening a browser before he decides on what to search for this time around.

**Kagami Taiga...**

His heart is pounding, mind wondering what articles will pop up, or if anything will appear in the first place as he presses enter.

He's thought about it long enough, if he even _wants_ to find out who he was. Maybe the truth would disappoint or even hurt him, make him realize that he maybe was a horrible human being who has tons of lives on his shoulders.

But in the end it's better to find out than to stay in the dark forever. Aomine would probably scold him, if he knew.

**Access denied** , is all the screen says before he's being thrown back to the front page.

"What the hell…?" Kagami quietly murmurs to himself before trying again, trying to type in his name.

For a second it seems like it's loading before he sees **Access denied**  and he's being guided to the front page again.

"Wha— But why!?"

There it is again, the frustration and anger burning up inside him like a pot of boiling water.

Kagami takes a deep, soothing breath and grabs the keyboard tighter as he decides for another search word.

**28th December Death List...**

He's not waiting long before the same sign appears again and throws him back to the start. Of course Aomine didn't change his password. He didn't have to if he blocked all the key words Kagami could possibly search for.

_Certainly not as dumb as he looks, that old man,_ he thinks and leans back in his chair.

Somehow Kagami's now too impressed to be genuinely irritated or angry, so he simply heaves a sigh and crosses his arms, thinks of the next step he can take to somehow learn something about himself and his past.

He won't talk to Aomine, because clearly, Aomine doesn't want him to know.

If it went after the man, he would probably imprison Kagami until one of them dies, and since Aomine is still in his thirties, it'll definitely take a while.

Kagami sighs and then lets his eyes glide over the room before something eventually catches his sight.

It's just a plain, grey gas mask, but he's sure that's the one Aomine was telling him to wear if he were to leave the house.

"What an ugly thing," Kagami mutters as he stands up and takes it into his hands. The mask isn't particularly heavy, but he can clearly feel its weight in his grip as he heaves it up and down.

"Wait a second..." He then remembers what Aomine wrote to him, that he allowed him to leave the house within hundred meters if he wore the mask.

Right now there's only one person who can help him or even knows something about his past, even if the person is the one who kidnapped him and cut his arm and started this whole mess in the first place.

Kagami groans and ruffles his hair. "I must be really desperate..."

He makes his way out of the house with the mask on his face.

 

 

"Please wait five more minutes," the secretary says and smiles at him politely. "The president will meet you then."

Aomine nods at her and sits on a nearby chair, takes out his pack of cigarette and lightens up one without another care of asking if he's even allowed in the first place.

It's neat and clean where he is, everything looking quite antiquated. For Aomine it's a rare thing to visit the city, frankly because he has no connections to it anymore whatsoever, but moments like these, when the president calls him for a personal meeting, he can't help but leave his home and Kagami for a few hours, even if he doesn't want to.

When he received the call this morning, Aomine thought he was still sleeping, but now that he's sitting in the president's waiting room, he begins to doubt it.

He takes another breath of his cigarette and blows the smoke around, completely ignoring the secretary's troubled face on purpose. He assumes the president told her to tolerate whatever he would do, so he lays back and does exactly that. And he doesn't really like to admit it, but he's partly nervous as well. He hasn't seen the president in years.

"Sir?" the secretary asks and steps in front of him, and he sees her try so hard not to scrunch up her face because of the smoke all around her. "The president has now time for you."

"Sure, thanks," Aomine sighs and puts out his cigarette on the glass table in front of him, grins to himself as he walks past the woman who is now frowning upon the mess.

He's stopped caring years ago what people think of him or what are good manners and what aren't, and he certainly won't start now just because the president wants to see him.

"'Sup?" he asks as he walks inside the office and closes the door behind him. "Long time no see, huh?"

The man chuckles and smiles, certainly not surprised the way Aomine is greeting him so casually, even though he's talking to Tokyo's current mayor himself. "It's good to see you, Aomine, how have you been doing?"

He gestures to the chair right in front of his desk for Aomine to sit down, and the man does, flops down and crosses his legs, arms on the armrest.

"Let's get to the hot stuff. You definitely didn't call me to have a chit-chat, did you?"

The president smiles again and intertwines his fingers, elbows braced on the desk. "You're right, I didn't."

"Then let's get on with it," Aomine says and leans forward, straightens his back and looks the man opposite to him deeply in the eyes, the playful mood now fully gone. "What do you want, Akashi?"

 

 

Kagami makes his way through the streets, tries so hard not to get lost, but it's really difficult with the mask darkening his sight and the alleys looking all shockingly identical.

He takes a turn to the right and then freezes.

"Fuck..." the boy mutters and looks around. "I think I'm lost."

It probably happened at the third or forth turn that he missed the way. The time he was walking back with Aomine, he mostly stared at the man's back or down to the ground. He should have paid more attention, or maybe even called Midorima himself and asked for the way.

"Don't panic," Kagami murmurs and turns around into the direction he came from. "I'll just walk the same way back."

"Hey, you," someone suddenly shouts to him just as he's about to walk back." What the hell are you doing here?"

Kagami turns around and meets the eye of a man with pitch-black dreadlocks, piercing on one ear and dirty grin on his face.

"This is our territory, what do you think you're doing here?"

"Don't worry, I was just about to go back," Kagami says and turns back around, but then there are two men behind and in front of him, cornering into a small circle.

"Yeah, that won't do, sweetheart," the black-haired man says and walks closer with hands in his pockets. "You see, the moment you stepped into our place, you were already dead."

"Oh yeah? Not to be rude, but I'd say you have some kind of problem, dude," Kagami says and shakes his head from left to right, tries to keep the five men in sight. He already knows he can't convince them to not start a fight, so he balls his hands into fists beforehand.

One of the men hesitates. "Haizaki, maybe we should really let him—"

"Are you giving me orders, asshat?" Haizaki bites back and glares him. "Kill him."

Reluctantly, the four men jump Kagami and begin to swing their fists, try to hit him. The boy dodges the first and second hit, but suddenly Haizaki is in front of him and thrusting his fist into Kagami's gut.

The pain is unbearable as he's being thrown against the wall, as the air is being pumped out of his lungs and he slides down the cold stone onto the ground.

"I told you, you shouldn't have come here," Haizaki says and steps in front of him. "Now let's take that ugly thing off."

He yanks the mask off Kagami's face roughly and throws it with a laugh to the ground, watches terror wash over Kagami's expression and then laughs more.

In that moment, Kagami sees it, his initials carved into the inside of the item, so neatly, nothing like Aomine's handwriting at all— as if he tried especially hard.

And he realises, this isn't just some old, rusty mask Aomine found somewhere lying on a dump. He's been surely working on it for days, weeks even, all alone for Kagami, just so Kagami is save.

The boy wants to reach out, take the mask into his hands and pull it to his chest, hold it close as if it was a newborn, but then Haizaki lifts his foot and stomps on it with all his might, breaks the mask into little pieces right in front of Kagami's eyes.

"No—" His hand is still stretched out, but his body is frozen. He can only watch how the shattered pieces split all over the ground, and with it the effort Aomine took to make it.

"You— That was Aomine's..." Kagami quietly whispers, eyes torn open, the light in it gone. "Aomine made it especially for me—"

Haizaki keeps laughing until he looks down and becomes quiet, one eyebrow shooting up. "You... don't I know you from somewhere?"

"You broke my mask, you bastard!" The fire lightens back again in Kagami's eyes, and with it, the strength in his body returns as he jumps onto his feet and throws Haizaki with a punch to the ground.

_"I can't believe you dumbass got into a fight again!"_

The black-haired grunts as the air is being pumped out of his body, back hitting the hard street.

"This was Aomine's present for me, you son of a bitch!" Kagami screams and thrusts his fist a second time into Haizaki's face before the male can even react.

_"It was an accident, they provoked me. Don't make a big deal out of it..."_

His hands are practically moving on their own as he keeps giving hit after hit, the four men around them merely watching in shock, unable to react to Kagami's sudden rage.

_"Promise me you won't ever do it again! Promise it!"_

But Kagami doesn't care. Even if he were in his right mind, he would have reacted the same way. This was Aomine's present for him, and it feels like by breaking it, he lost Aomine's trust to him as well. "You're gonna pay for this, you scumbag!"

_"And don't you dare not look at me. Whenever you avert your eyes, I know that you're either lying or hiding something from me."_

Haizaki's head is being thrust from left to right with each punch, face bloody all over. He's giving merely grunts, can't speak with the impact of Kagami's fists.

_"Pinky swear, really? What are you, a kid?"_

"I'm gonna kill you, bastard!" Then, Kagami's suddenly thrown to the side by one of the men who's finally reacted, and with a loud thump he hits the wall, head first.

He can only see from the corner of his eyes how the four men help Haizaki up, take him on two shoulders and make their way out.

His eyesight starts to blur, black stars darkening his vision, and he imagines hearing a voice he's familiar with so much— before he eventually passes out in the alley.

_"—Fine... I promise."_

_\- tbc_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, do you hate me now? Do you?

**Author's Note:**

> Again, please leave a comment!!


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